Building Empathy Through Experience

Feb 20, 2017

Students simulate challenges faced by disabled population

This semester, the Department of Art's new Special Topics Design Studio topic is empathy. During a recent morning class, graduate and undergraduate students in the course had to carry out "standard," daily tasks while using wheelchairs, wearing eyeglasses that imitated cataracts, and other tools that simulated different challenges other people may face.

"By experiencing what it is like to have different abilities, students gained insights that challenged them to design with different abilities in mind," said Dennis Cheatham, assistant professor of Graphic Design and one of the course instructors. "Later this semester, students in Special Topics Design Studio will work in groups to research and identify problems that pose challenges for people in our community, then apply design and empathy to address these needs," he said.